In the Flames

She smiled and fell back asleep.

Liz woke later to someone softly speaking to her, “Liz. Liz wake up,” Cole
whispered to her.
Her eyes opened once and she quickly closed them again, the light was too much.
Liz had a horrible migraine. She just kind of moaned and rolled over so her face was in the
pillow.
“Liz,” Her aunt said, “You need to take these, they will help with the headache”
Liz rolled over again and stuck out both her hands, not opening her eyes. She
shook the right cup and heard pills moving. Liz dumped them into her mouth and then
downed the cup of water. She rolled over and buried her head in the pillow again, wanting
the hurt to go away.
All the hurt, the loss, the headache but mostly the emptiness she felt. Her family
was still gone and she was once again alone, isolated, because of what she had done. No
one would think of her the same now, even her aunt had treated her differently after her
first attempt of suicide. Now Cole would think differently of her, Moose would no longer
want to hang out with her. They would leave her to hide in her corner of the class room,
she hoped.
The entire time she was in the hospital, Cole never left her side. He always had her
hand between his. Moose would leave to go to school and collect the work that Cole and
Liz were missing. She was released two days later, with a prescription of antidepressant
pills.
When Liz walked into school Thursday morning people stopped and stared at her,
whispering amongst themselves. She walked into her first hour and saw that Cole and his
friends were already sitting and talking. Liz went into the back corner and sat in her chair,
looking down at the desk. She heard a bunch of people moving but she paid no attention
to it. Soon there were a set of feet in front of her, and some next to her. Liz looked up to
see Moose sitting in front of her and Cole to the left of her. Jon was sitting next to Moose
and Sonny was in the desk in front of Jon’s with Chris sitting next to Sonny.
Liz smiled a little and pulled the things she would need out of her green backpack.
Moose set a stack of papers in front of her, “All the things you missed,” he smiled
at her.
“Hey, what about me?” Cole asked, “You didn’t get my stuff?”
“Well, no ... You’re not as hot as Liz,” Moose looked at Liz like, Duh!
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that Moose ...” Liz trailed off, laughing a little.
“Ohh, Wolfie. Blue has the hots for you!” Jon grinned at Liz.
The bell rang for first hour to start and the group quitted down. Somewhere during
the middle of the class Cole leaned over and whispered that they need to talk at lunch, so
they were going to his house for lunch. Liz dreaded the end of fifth hour’s coming.
In her fifth hour even her teacher gave her funny looks. The only one who treated
her the same was Lex, although he even acted a little differently around her. During the
middle of the class Lex hinted that he even kind of liked Liz.
Cole met her outside the class again and he walked her to his car. Cole opened the
door for her and bowed, making Liz laugh a little. The drive was a quick ride and very
quiet.
Cole had a huge white house. It looked like it had three stories and a basement. He
parked the car by the little house next to the pool, which was also white. It had two stories
and a lot of windows.
“I’m so happy my parents don’t make me share a house them,” Cole said dryly,
“They always fight.”
Liz stiffened a little. At least he still had his parents, she thought. Liz got out of the
car and leaned against the door, waiting for Cole to come around the car. He hooked his
arm around Liz’s and walked toward the door. He quickly unlocked it and pushed her
inside the house. Cole threw his keys on a little table next to the door and lead Liz into the
kitchen.
“We have about a half an hour for lunch, what would you like?” Cole asked as he
opened one of the cabinets.
“Hum, do you serve tomato soup ‘round here?” Liz asked as she sat in one of the
bar stools.
“Only the best T. soup you’ve ever had!”
Soon there was a pot of soup over the stove and Cole was digging through the
cabinets for some crackers. He pulled out two red bowls and two spoons and set them up
on the counter in front of the stools.
“I gotta ask, Liz,” Cole stirred the soup, “What the hell were you thinking?”
Liz winced and looked down at her hands as she said softly, “Cole , have you ever
lost someone dear to you?”
“Yeah, my Grandpa and I were really close.”
“Do you remember how you felt when that happened?”
“Like my world ended.”
“Imagine that, but four times worse and you lost your dog ... and you were forced
to move away from you friends, whom you really needed, and start all over again.”
“Woah ...” Cole looked at her and he continued to stir the soup, “Still doesn’t give
you a reason to try and kill yourself.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill myself all right!” Liz spun around in her seat, and leaned
against the counter, “I just wanted everything to go away!”
Cole grabbed the bowls and pored the soup into them, “Everything?”
Liz sighed, “All the loss, the pain, the emptiness. I wanted all those gone.”
Liz knew what Cole was talking about when he said that. She had felt it too, they
had something. Even though she had only known him for four days, she really liked him.
Cole sat next to her and started to eat the soup, “You’re aunt said that you’ve
done this before ... How many times?”
“Once.”
They sat in silence as they finished their soup. Liz washed out her bowl and spoon
and put them in the rack to dry. Cole put his hands on either side of her as Liz spun
around.
Cole asked softly, “Why did you ask for me?”
Liz froze, had she really asked for him. She thought for a second and remembered
it. She looked up at his eyes, his face was so close to hers, “I ... I don’t know why.”
He said, breathlessly, “Liz, why?”
Liz blinked a few times and said softly, “I feel safe when I’m with you,” she looked
down again.
Cole cupped Liz’s jaw in his hands and kissed her. Liz was not expecting that, yet
she sort of was. She felt like she was on fire, the blood rushing through her. Liz wrapped
her arms around Cole’s neck and kissed him back. He eventually pulled his lips away from
hers, both gasping for air.
Cole looked at the clock, they had ten minutes to get back to school, “I’m sorry, I
just couldn’t ...”
Liz cut him off by kissing him again, quickly, “We need to get back to school.”
“Can’t we just skip the rest of the day?” Cole winked at her, “I have a very nice
bed upstairs and a couch just in the other room and ...”
Liz stopped him, “We have to get back to school.”
“Damn,” Cole took her hand.
They left the house with about five minutes to get to school, but they first had a
quick make-out session by the door of the house. They got back to school and kissed
again in the car before leaving it. They walked back to their fifth hours, holding hands.
The rest of the day Cole and Liz held hands or they would kiss in the hall. After school let
out, Cole walked Liz to her car.
“Do you have hockey practice tonight?” Liz asked as she leaned on her car.
“Uh-huh,” Cole replied.
“Could I come?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you think I would be able to skate around with you guys a while?”
“Uh-huh.”
Liz laughed a little, “Can I have you car?”
“Uh ... No!” Cole smiled at Liz.
“What time is it?”
“Meet Moose, Jon and me at four again. Moose is driving.
“All righty,” Liz got into her car, “See you at four.”
She left the parking lot, thinking of Cole. She got back to her house and changed
out of her skirt and into a pair of jeans. Liz told her aunt where she was going as she
grabbed a banana on her way out the door. She arrived at the school parking lot around
3:40. Liz sat in the car, listening to music and eating her banana. Soon the black SUV
pulled into the parking lot and Liz got out of her car. Moose parked next to her car and he
and Jon got out of the car. They talked till the blue Mustang showed up. Liz grabbed her
black skates out of her trunk and threw them into Moose’s trunk along with all the bags
then got in the back seat of the SUV. There were no other cars in the parking lot when
they arrived at the rink.
“We like to get here early, to beat the rush,” Moose joked.
They all piled out of the SUV and cleared the trunk. Liz slung her skates over her
shoulder and followed Cole into the building.
“You can head down to the rink if you want,” Moose said, “Cole, Jon and I need
to change.”
“All righty, see you guys in a little bit,” Liz walked down to the ice and quickly
exchanged her skates for her shoes
Liz skated onto the ice, she had forgotten how good the ice felt under her. She
raced from blue line to blue line, pushing herself to move faster. Liz felt so at home on the
ice.
Soon the guys came out of the locker room and they goofed around for a while as
the team arrived. The coach let Liz help out during the practice, once he saw how good
she was on the ice.

The next few weeks went by without any problems and before Liz knew it was
winter break. She had been talking with her best friend online and she had deicded to go
visit her for New Years. Cole and Liz had even convinced his parents to let him go with
her. About three days before the trip Moose was also invited. Although his parents were
hesitant to let him go with, then did finally allow it. After they had been assured that Liz
would not be sharing a room with the guys.